Page 31 of The Spinster's Secret Scoundrel
“Don’t let your biscuits burn,” he added, taking the stairs two at a time.
“Is that supposed to be naughty?”
“No, I mean they smell ready to come out of the oven.”
More pounding. Rudely, Ada let her visitor stand outside in the cold while she retrieved her biscuit pan. Everything cooked faster and more evenly with the new stove.
She managed to get the lock open before her unexpected visitor knocked a third time, but only just. On her doorstep was Thierry’s cousin, Rémy, with snow crusting his longish dark blond locks. He stood there, fist raised, then gently tapped her forehead.
Ada laughed.
“Ça sens bon, ma puce.” He stomped his boots.
“Get inside before you let all the heat out.”
“Is my scallywag of a cousin not keeping you warm enough, chérie?” Rémy winked and stole one of the freshly-baked biscuits. “I duty bound to offer myself in his place.”
She knew he meant nothing by it. The new captain of theSpectrewas a shameless flirt, even worse than Thierry. While Ada still had a habit of going silent and attempting to fade into the background in social situations, outrageously charming Frenchmen had a way of bypassing her shyness.
“Trying to steal my wife again, are you, cousin?” Thierry reappeared, fully dressed, and clasped their visitor’s hand.
“She is a gem beyond compare. I should be so fortunate as to find a woman of Ada’s quality. Alas, you have married the only lady worth winning. I must content myself with the leftovers.”
Blushing, Ada swatted Rémy’s shoulder and set a plate of beef stew before him. “There are many women eager to wed a gentleman. You have much to offer a lady, if you should ever desire to settle down with one.”
He gave an exaggerated shudder.
“I barely escaped one such entanglement just yesterday.”
“Was she not comely?” Thierry inquired slyly.
His cousin kissed his fingertips. “Magnificent. Coal-black hair down to her spectacular—ahem, cul.”
“I know what ‘cul’ means, Rémy.”
“Her derriere,” supplied Thierry. “I assume her personality was equally pleasing to you as her…” He made a crude gesture to indicate breasts.
“Alas, I did not take note of her personality prior to bedding her.” Rémy winced. “She was rather high-spirited, shall we say. Couldn’t accept it when I chose to depart said bed.” Ada’s mouth fell open in outrage. She didn’t know her cousin-in-law’s conquest, but any woman deserved better treatment than this. Before she could protest, he went on. “Nor did I take note of her husband, whose existence precludes any discussion of marriage, and whose arrival necessitated my hasty departure.”
He attacked his stew with gusto, apparently having moved on from his heartbreak.
Ada wanted to call him all kinds of names, starting with arsehole, then bastard, followed by cad, and continuing all the way down the alphabet, but Rémy winked at her and all she could do was laugh. She could imagine the scene.
“Yet you arrived here with your hide intact.” Thierry observed.
“The aforementioned husband’s aim was…” He wobbled his flat palm from side to side. “Not so good.”
“Lucky for you.”
Their conversation continued in this fashion. Rémy volunteered to do the washing up, allowing her to escape to bed. Thierry’s roundabout explanation of how to install the new sink followed her. Ada yawned past a smile. Rémy hadn’t come to help with household renovations, yet he knew he’d be roped into working every time he visited, and his visits had only increased in recent months.
Deny it all he might, Ada had a strong suspicion that Rémy was looking to settle down like Thierry had. The pirate simply hadn’t found the right woman, yet.
Their new stove heated the upper floors better than its predecessor. She still shivered when she unbuttoned her dress and slipped it off, slipping between the soft sheets and opening a book to pass the time. Fine linens and anything she wanted to read were two more luxuries that came with having a husband. At least, hers.
Later, when Thierry came up, she’d nearly fallen asleep. He slid into the bed beside her and pressed warm lips to her nape. His rough hands found her breasts. Need pooled low in her belly.
This part of the day never ceased to thrill her. Ada shifted to give him better access. He worked the little nub that made her wild before sliding inside. She gasped at the sensation of him. Filled to excess, to bliss, stretched beyond what she thought she could bear. A noise came from the back of her throat.
